Cell therapy trailblazer Chimeric Therapeutics has struck a deal to outsource the time sensitive collection, transport and delivery of feedstock materials from donors in addition to final clinical drug therapy products to biotech supply chain specialist Be The Match BioTherapies. The 30-year veteran has sourced, collected and delivered cells from more than 100,000 donors around the world for time-critical cellular therapies.
Chimeric is in the initial trial stages of a cell therapy where blood is taken from a patient, treated with Chimeric’s proprietary protein platform and then reinjected back into the patient where the ‘reprogrammed’ blood cells exclusively attack the cancer cells, in this case the highly lethal glioblastoma brain tumours.
The novel and promising therapy was developed by scientists at the City of Hope Medical Centre in California for the treatment of patients with solid tumours.
Interestingly, the technology uniquely utilises chlorotoxin, a peptide derived from scorpion toxin. A second clinical trial using the protein is planned to commence this year and again will be targeting additional solid tumours.
Chimeric said as part of the national bone marrow donor program, Be The Match BioTherapies has sourced, collected and delivered cells from more than 100,000 volunteer donors around the world for the time-critical cellular therapies as the company has extensive experience providing material consented for research, clinical and commercial use.
Chimeric Therapeutics CEO Jennifer Chow said: “Be The Match BioTherapies is an ideal partner for us, extending the reach and resources of our experienced cell therapy team.”
“With its focused mission and the NMDP/Be The Match’s 30 plus years of experience in managing the complexity and risks of cell therapy logistics, we believe that the team at Be The Match BioTherapies is uniquely positioned to support the expansion of the CHM 1101 or CLTX CAR T development program.”
Chimeric said the cost of the agreement is not considered financially material and is expected to be funded from existing cash reserves.
Throughout its 30 year history, Chimeric said Be The Match BioTherapies has developed and continually enhanced its cell collection network and proven cell therapy supply chain infrastructure and is responsible for more than 6,500 time-sensitive cell therapy shipments per year.
Chimeric has also developed a number of other complementary cell therapies that are in the testing phase. Including a third-generation innovation to treat neuroendocrine tumours, colorectal, pancreatic and gastric cancers that was invented at the University of Pennsylvania and in preclinical development with a planned phase 1 clinical trial in 2022.
Recently Chimeric also announced the addition of the CORE-NK platform. From the platform, Chimeric plans to develop four new next generation assets with plans for first phase clinical trials in 2023 targeting solid tumours and blood cancers.
Leaving the supply chain concerns surrounding highly perishable clinical materials to a 30-year veteran of the game such as Be The Match BioTherapies should leave Chimeric free to concentrate on its multi-faceted fight to rid the world of the scourge of cancer.
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